My name is Fred and I am a gay conservative living in Ottawa. This blog supports limited government, the right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security, and tries to expose the threat to us all from cultural relativism, post-modernism, and radical Islam.
I am also the founder of the Free Thinking Film Society in Ottawa (www.freethinkingfilms.com)

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Why is it ok for women to be sexist???

Only last week, for example, Jo Brand, the newly crowned Best Female TV Comic at the British Comedy Awards, was on Have I Got News For You and replied to the question ‘What’s your favourite kind of man, Jo?’ by saying: ‘A dead one.’ Oh, how the audience fell about. And the other contestants, all male, chortled away too.

I’m not saying it wasn’t funny. I’m just saying we live in a world where the thorough-going awfulness, uselessness and superfluity of the male sex is such a given, that a frontline television comic can get big laughs by saying she’d prefer it if we were all dead.

And I’m trying to imagine a world in which I am on that show and they say, ‘What kind of women do you like, Giles?’ and I reply: ‘Dead ones.’ I just don’t think it would get the same laughs, do you?

Here’s another of Jo Brand’s (excellent) gags. ‘What’s the way to a man’s heart? Straight through the chest with a kitchen knife!’ Again, not unfunny. But predicated on the idea that killing men is hilarious. Whereas killing women, as we all know, is a very serious affair and not to be joked about.

It’s not just Brand, it’s all women. ‘What do you call the useless flap of skin attached to a penis?’ they joke. ‘A man!’ they all reply, and clink their chardonnay glasses and chortle till dawn. How on earth did this get to be OK?

9 Comments:

So let me get this straight... You are upset at a female comedian's material? Comedians do not seem to care what they say on any subject and you are just noticing now?Are you having a bad day today?It's been a "man's world" since the dawning of time ya know...that is what we females have had to live with and try to get along in it...it is getting worse in the middle east...women are not people...that old world thought is growing..that thought is growing in North America as we pile up more and more muslim and other religions here...I am sorry to hear that a comedian has bruised your ego but there are more serious aspects to deal with...such as what I just mentioned. Women just want to be as free as the men in the human being department.

I agree that these jokes are in bad taste, and are no better than sexist jokes against women. And actually, I disagree with you on one point - I think that they are unfunny. What's funny about wishing death on 50% or so of humanity?

However, NB Tory Gal is right that professional comedians regularly make distasteful jokes. That's why I simply avoid them, really. And I suspect that a lot of people who would take exception to jokes like the ones you mentioned do the same. Perhaps that's best for the sake of free speech, I don't know.

There's other, less riskier, avenues I can go to for amusement, thankfully.

...the blonde jokes are still out there...uttered by men every day...that's sexist...cause they are not talking about blonde men...even females are self depricating saying...I am blonde...or having a blonde moment...

..you think women and men are equal huh... tell that to the business world...men are still getting starting pay for positions higher than women...from low levels up...

...we do not have the same strength...and it is acknowledged by most of us...so we are not equal in all things...some very physically obvious...thank heaven...

I want to be considered for me the person anyhow...not for me the female....in anything...I think that is the way it should be...but it isn't - I still see that we are mentioned as women quota...need more women quota... lots of time we can get there on our own...do not need a male leg up...

Sharia law is creeping into north america...no let me correct myself and use the word... falling into place here too comfortably...that is totally against women...

...we stray from your point though...I hate rudeness and crudeness from any gender...on any subject, in any section of society...so I agree with you there...

...there are a lot of people who need to be educated and we will be lucky if they listen because they enjoy the mode they are in...

NB Tory Gal: The gap betweeen men and women in pay is driven by a host of factors like full and part-time work, experience, etc, and not by sexism.

And, in the future women will end up making a lot more than men - afterall, women make up more than 60% - 65% of university students in this country (raising a question of who these women are going to marry)...and this a recipe for disaster.

It is men in this country (and boys) who are in trouble, and we desperately need policies to address their issues.

I agree with what Fred is saying here, there is a double standard and guy bashing is considered okay.

Seriously, why are there still some women who cry foul and get their feelings hurt if everything perfectly PC for them but they turn around an endorse the same behaviour if it is aimed at someone else?

Status of Women is a joke department, I would love to see a Status of Men department created, they are afterall the minority now.

Yes, I am a woman but I refuse to play the victim card from times gone by and certainly do not believe that a friggin department espouse my opinions for me, are we all the same?? THAT is demeaning to me.

You know what? If I hear a good joke about a man OR a woman I laugh at it and then give it right back. Time for the population to grow up.

As a woman I find it demeaning that there is a department called the Status of Women, it should be abolished. In lieu of that we need a department for the Status of Men.

Fred nailed it in his last post, men are indeed becoming a minority in just about every area which includes population. The majority of post-grads are now women and affirmative action is evident everywhere for women who want the extra advantage over men.

I want the best PERSON when I need services for something and not someone who got the job based on filling a quota.

I agree 100% with Fred and Linda. If there is a gap between female and male earnings, sorry, it is NOT about sexism, but about the reasons stated by Fred - women work shorter hours, care more about quality of life, raising kids, etc. And those aren't necessarily bad things, but when those factors are coupled with other current realities (as stated - # of women composing the majority of a lot of professional programs now - medicine, veterinary medicine, to name only two that I know of for sure) I think we have a looming disaster ahead.......shortages of doctors (already the case) to name only one. As a mother of 1 daughter and 1 son (now grown) I couldn't help but notice how my son was turned off from school at a fairly early age. That may have been just him, but I don't think so...numerous studies are trying to get to the bottom of what is going on with our education system - where are the boys going, and why. I think we should all be concerned - I have never thought that two wrongs can make a right - that is - nobody would disagree that things were difficult for women in the past. But that is gradually becoming the long past (more than 30 years). To have the pendulum swing the other way is not a healthy thing. I would argue that choices for girls and women caught up to choices for boys and men, and then quickly exceeded them. What ever happened to the idea of equality?

I agree with Linda - "Women's Studies" - makes me cringe - just like Women's Finances (really, how is investing different if you are a man or a woman?).

And I agree with the original essay - it is really not o.k. to joke about killing men, just like it obviously would not be o.k. to joke about killing women. Not on the same level as blonde jokes, I am afraid(and I don't like those either). And yes, my sense of humour is alive and well!

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My name is Fred and I am a gay conservative living in Ottawa. This blog supports limited government, the right of the State of Israel to live in peace and security, and tries to expose the threat to us all from cultural relativism, post-modernism, and radical Islam.
I am also the founder of the Free Thinking Film Society in Ottawa (www.freethinkingfilms.com)